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Class action lawsuit targets Apple over defective iPhone 4 buttons

updated 06:25 pm EDT, Tue May 14, 2013

by MacNN Staff

Says Apple was aware of issue but kept quiet

A Florida woman, Debra Hilton, has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple on behalf of iPhone 4 owners, says GigaOM. The case alleges that Apple knew about a flex cable defect that was causing problems with the phone's power button, but stayed quiet to sell phones without fixing the issue. A lawyer for Hilton points to threads on Apple's support forums, as well as a repair video on YouTube claiming that the issue is prevalent with the 4.

Hilton further alleges that the defect typically only shows up after a phone's one-year warranty has expired, forcing people to pay $149 for a repair. Apple is being sued under RICO statutes and California's unfair competition laws, with a demand for over $5 million in damages.

The lawsuit is unusual in that while Apple has been hit with numerous iPhone lawsuits in the past, the cases usually involve more recent devices. The iPhone 4 is still on sale, but first debuted in the summer of 2010.

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A quick Internet search seems to indicate that the iPhone 5 also experiences this issue. I saw a story/rumor today that Apple may be replacing this feature with a non-mechanical solution.

I'm curious as to what steps this lady took before deciding on a lawsuit.

Personally I think it would have been easier, had Apple declined fixing a known issue at no cost, to simply pay the $150.00 to have the phone fixed. Then open a website or blog or survey inviting others to add their voice to this issue. Contact the media and the Better Business Bureau. I think this would go a lot further in addressing the issue as a whole than would multiple and isolated lawsuits.

I don't think they're going to get very far with the RICO thing. From my understanding, the action/actions in question would have to have been illegal, or created with the intent cause harm/hardship.
The part has been shown to fail for a portion of the purchasers, over a wide range of time after purchase, including under warranty.
Under warranty, the service of that failed part is free. Out of warranty, $150.00. A bit steep, but a solution is available. Apple didn't say, "No. You have to buy a new phone." (though arguably, you can in fact, for the same money).
You can even get the part replaced by third party for somewhat less, if I'm not mistaken.

Rule #1 - get the $99 AppleCare+ for your iPhone. It covers all repairs for the two year contract and allows you two accidental replacements for $49 each. If you can destroy a phone three times in two years you may not want to keep buying expensive phones. For the free model, it's a no brainer. For the $99 model it's still pretty painless. For the $199 model I might think about it for 29 days, but it's a good idea with a device this small, packed and with little or no user-serviceable parts.

I too wish every company sold their bulletproof hardware for $1 and fixed it for free forever and was a racketeer f they refused to do so, but given the hardware and Real Life, this is doable.

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